[carlosrull.com] Recent Modifications To The Site

Though it might not be as noticeable, I’ve made several modifications to the site that I am hoping will be beneficial to visitors.

These site modifications are detailed below, and one of the most important goals was to improve navigation.

Being that the front page is a rather unique, static page, I thought it was important to bring back the Recent posts column (details mentioned below).

Site Modifications

1

Changes to Improve Performance

Made some recent modifications to the site, in an effort to speed up the site, as I thought the front page was laden with javascripts, extra CSS, and features which I thought bogged down the performance of the site.

Here are some of the changes:

1. Reduced the number of “sliding” featured posts (on the front page) to 4; from 6 (it originally was 8).

2. I initially removed the “Recent” column in the sidebar, which made the site load a bit faster, but I put it back because it was good for visitors to browse the most recent posts quickly.

3. Removed the two columns in the front page below the Featured slider section. Now there is just the Lifestyle category which is the current dominant category.

4. Improved the navigation a bit, adding a Features section that will feature various ‘series’ of posts.

5. Brought back the Amazon storefront to the main navigation.

6. Brought back an Archive Page.

2

Return of the ‘Recent Posts’ Column

First and foremost, I put back the “Recent” posts in the right-hand sidebar. This will show the 8 most recent posts on the site.

Based on my web statistics, I think visitors have an easier time following the chronology of recent posts in that column.

When the front page loads, the “Recent” posts are the ones that show up first.

3

‘Popular Posts’ Still Accessible in the Sidebar

Secondly, I placed the “Popular” posts of the day in the right column of the sidebar. And being that the “Recent” column is shown first, the visitor needs to click on the “Popular” TAB to access the right column.

All-in-all, I finally think this is the best way to show both “Recent” and “Popular” posts all in the sidebar, accessible on every page of the site.